Interrupted, unreliable and inadequate service delivery in Makana Municipality will be on top of the agenda of a new organisation that met for the first time on Wednesday 14 May.
Interrupted, unreliable and inadequate service delivery in Makana Municipality will be on top of the agenda of a new organisation that met for the first time on Wednesday 14 May.
The civil society-based Makana Unity League held their inaugural meeting at the Graham Hotel's Makana room.
Chaired by Grahamstown advocate Brin Brody, the meeting was well attended by individuals, representatives of schools, institutions and businesses across the city.
"We only have one real aim," Brody said, "which is to ensure service delivery in this town and also to ensure that all the citizens are well catered for."
Brody led the successful campaign to retain the seat of the Eastern Cape High Court in Grahamstown as part of the Grahamstown High Court Action Committee.
In 2010, there were attempts by the government to relocate the Grahamstown High Court to the Eastern Province's capital city, Bhisho.
The Committee dispatched letters and memoranda opposing the move to recipients such as President Jacob Zuma, heads of court and various ministers, as well as to the business community of Grahamstown, asking for their support.
The League aims to forge relationships with agencies to find funding for solutions to infrastructural and maintenance challenges.
Brody said the league would cater for both Makana East and West.
Improving communication between the municipality and the citizenry was another important goal.
The league has identified itself as an organisation to engender a culture of honesty, service and justice for all, co-operating with, but not part of, the municpality.
During the meeting, the constitution of the league was adopted and the committee inaugurated.
Brody said that the organisation had invited members of the Unemployed Peoples Movement (UPM) on to the interim committee.
UPM's representative Ayanda Kota, did not attend Wednesday's meeting, telling Grocott's Mail that, “We attended the first meeting and reported back to the general membership of the UPM. The matter of whether we support them has been deferred to the AGM and we cannot comment until then.”
Five people were elected on to the committee: Sally Price-Smith, Susan Powers, Karen Meyer, Eugene Repinz and David Rodgerson.
